It's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: The Mystery of Locked Rooms by Lindsay Currie

The Mystery of Locked Rooms by Lindsay Currie
Publisher:  Sourcebooks
Format:  E-ARC via NetGalley
Number of pages:   256 pages
Publishing:   April 2nd, 2024
Source:  Publisher

Opening Line: "Angle it the other way! West screeches, holding his mirror up in the air."

Team Delta consists of best friends Sarah, West and Hannah and they have just beat the second hardest escape room in Escape City history.  Their victory places them among the topmost elite teams that have ever completed this level.  Together Team Delta feels invincible.  That is until the team experiences a major setback when Sarah finds a foreclosure notice in her mailbox.  Sarah's mom has been working two jobs, as her dad was recently diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and hasn't been able to work.  Sarah's older brother Sean is supposed to head off to college soon, but her parents are worried about where the money is going to come from.  Now with the foreclosure notice, they need to get some money fast, otherwise Sarah and her family might have to move in with her grandparents in Michigan, which would end up breaking up the team.  

Then Hannah remembers a story about an old, abandoned funhouse from the 1950's.  As the story goes, the funhouse was constructed by triplet brothers, Karl, Stefan and Hans Stein. The brothers were orphaned at the age of eight and ended up separated, only reuniting later as adults.  They had always dreamed of building a funhouse together to share with the public.  Unfortunately, they all died before the funhouse opened.  According to the legend, hidden somewhere in the house there is thought to be the Triplet's Treasure, a reward for whoever can survive the house's secret passages and riddles.  Many have tried, but none have been successful in making it past the mirror mazes and optical illusions.  Since then, the funhouse's treasure has gone unclaimed.  Hannah, Sarah and West believe that finding the treasure is the answer to all of their worries and so they make plans to enter the funhouse to solve its mysteries, as losing each other is too great of a risk.

Once inside the funhouse, Sarah, West and Hannah begin to feel some success but also make a couple of wrong guesses, for which they suffer a penalty and have to change their plans and redo a few steps.  The trio also begins to worry that trying to solve the funhouse's mystery was a bad idea as they didn't tell anyone where they were going and now, they can't even get a phone signal to call for help if something goes wrong.  But going back is also not an option so the team continues on.  As the trio ventures further into the various rooms they face even more difficult tasks and begin to wonder if the triplets were really diabolical and whether the trio have what it takes to solve this puzzling house, as this place is unlike any escape room that they've ever attempted before.

I just adore Lindsay Currie's books and The Mystery of Locked Rooms was a fantastic read, part suspense, filled with puzzles, riddles and precarious hidden passages that pose potential dangers around every corner.  Highly recommend it for fans of Goonies, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and even Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library.  And oh, my what a task this trio faced navigating through these sixteen rooms with only a hope that there was going to be a treasure waiting at the end.  I quite enjoyed Sarah, Hannah and West, and the friendship that they share.  The way that they start confiding some of the secrets that they've been hiding.  How Hannah feels like she's failed as a dancer, and how West feels burdened by his exceptional memory.  I really liked how Currie highlights each character's worries, and skills while giving them an opportunity to show their strengths, be it Hannah's agility and balance, to West's ability to solve riddles and his memory skills, to Sarah's decision-making skills, ability to keep track of the time and determine the probabilities of risks.  There was such a nice balance in seeing each of them have a moment of success.  I also really enjoyed learning about the history of the Stein triplets.  It added a layer of mystery to the story which was fun.  It was also exciting to see what strategy the trio used to solve each riddle and how important attention to detail played in some of the clues and how at other times they had to just make a choice, come what may. Taking a leap of faith.  Overall, this was creative, exciting with just the right length and perfect pacing to entertain a sleuth who enjoys escape rooms, riddles and solving puzzles.

**A huge thank you to Sourcebooks for the E-ARC via NetGalley**   

 I hope you'll check out all the other Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday posts at Greg Pattridge's blog HERE      

Edited 3/18/24 to add Book Trailer Premiere: The Mystery of Locked Rooms @MrSchuReads.blog